OrbiMed to invest $40m in Suraksha Diagnostics

Marquee healthcare investor OrbiMed is finalising about $40-million investment in Kolkata-based Suraksha Diagnostics, which operates a chain specialising in pathology and radiology services across the national capital region (NCR), Bihar and West Bengal.

The investment deal is in the final stages of documentation and is likely to be announced shortly. OrbiMed, which manages over $14 billion in assets globally, has made select investments in specialty healthcare service providers and equipment makers in India where it set up an office in 2008.

“Yes, we are in talks with OrbiMed and the deal-making is in the final stage,” Suraksha chairman Somnath Chatterjee confirmed to TOI. This will be OrbiMed’s first investment in the country’s eastern region, he added. Investment bank o3 capital is advising on the transaction.

The capital raised will be deployed by the company — eastern India’s largest diagnostics chain already — to expand the laboratory network and invest in equipment and the tech backbone. Suraksha, promoted by Panorama Group, operates more than 30 centres including polyclinics and has expanded services to include cardiology, neurology and gastroenterology. OrbiMed’s other Indian investments include Laxmi Dental, Strides Shasun, Surya Pediatric Care and KIMS. Global risk investors have actively poured money into specialty healthcare service segments, which is growing at a faster clip in a prospering economy and commands better operating margins.